Cuter and more cuddly
by Mastermindhunter
Summary: The penguins are more busy than normal, leaving the others in question. When they decide to send Mort in to see what is going on something happens that leaves them all in states of shock.
1. Mort's interferance

Cuter and more cuddly

by

Mastermindhunter

The penguin's HQ. was loud and active, today. Something about this noise was different though. Even when Skipper said their missions were personal, everybody figured it out eventually, but not this time. It was getting everybody's attention. Especially the lemurs. The noise was rivaling their own music. They didn't like it when they couldn't hear their boom box. Marlene was curious as to what was going on. She didn't want to go to the habitat, because quite honestly, they would bombard her whenever she went over. Instead, she went over to the lemurs place, to talk about it. The three were just as confused as she was.

"I honestly don't know what could possibly be going on over there, but I'm sure that whatever they're doing over there really doesn't concern us." Maurice snorted. Marlene just looked over at the island. Julian's gaze followed, along with Mort's, and Maurice's. She really respected the boys, and didn't want to intrude on them without reason, but seriously. She really felt like, whatever was happening, it wasn't going to turn out well. They had thought about it really long and hard. Julian finally looked up from his slump, and smiled.

"Ah! I have a brilliant kingly plan, to see what it is the penguins are doing."

"Oh, boy here we go." Marlene leaned on the side of the concrete, getting ready for whatever it is that Julian was about to recommend.

"Okay. Here is the plan. We send a spy into the neighbor penguins home, and then they will be having an inside scoopings on the penguins. Then they are coming back to us, to tell us what it is the penguins are doing, so the three of us are looking totally innocent, preferably me." He put his paw up to his chest in a prideful like gesture.

"You mean send in a mole?" Marlene looked at Julian with a raised eyebrow.

"No of course not, you silly otter! Moles are lacking of the eyes we need to be having into the penguins home. No! Moles will not do. Thus so it has to be one of us." He sounded so full of himself. Marlene rolled her eyes, then looked back at him. Who would be eager enough to go into the penguin habitat, with all that noise going on? Suddenly everybody turned to Mort, with a smile. Mort looked in the direction of the island. Even with his eager, and enthusiastic personality, he didn't think that the island sounded safe. Still, Kowalski had made him go to a hornet's nest before, in order to remove it, and it didn't seem that bad.

"I don't really think I want to go." Mort fidgeted with his feet. Julian wasn't going to be hearing this.

"Mort. You are a subject of the king, and I order you to go!" Marlene looked at Julian with a scowl. Julian had put his paw over his mouth, obviously understanding that Marlene didn't approve of Julian talking to Mort like that. She looked back at Mort with a warm smile. He mirrored the welcoming face.

"It's okay, Mort. I've spent plenty of time with the penguins, and they'll be really friendly. I know they sometimes seem a little scary, and serious, especially Skipper." Mort nodded twice. "Trust me, though, they'll be really nice." Mort smiled, giving Marlene a hug. She set him down, and he walked over to their place. He had to admit. Even though they had sometimes been a little peculiar, they had saved his life before. He knew they seemed real frightening, but if there was one penguin he knew he could trust, it would be Private. He was little, just like him, and really kind-hearted, and, to be honest, and little soft feathered. They didn't seem that bad.

He moved the fishbowl holding their smelly meals to the side. It made his nose crinkle at the aroma. The bowl was rather heavy. It made a loud teeth grinding screech, but it was blending well with the sound of saws on steel, and hammering. When he moved it, the sound inside the interior rose to an even more louder volume. He looked around to see two orange feet sticking out from under a rather large metal like invention. The sound was coming from underneath the big steel plated computer-like machine. Underneath the supposed penguin that the feet were attached to, was on a skateboard. He heard one of the penguin's assertive voices behind him.

"Sad eyes!" He snapped around shocked to see Skipper towering over him. An unexpected gasp came from his mouth. He didn't look angry, but not to ecstatic either. His wings were on his hips. "What are you doing here? We thought we made it clear that we're very busy today. No time for your fun and games." Skipper ruffled the top of Mort's fur, and it stood straight up, messy and shaggy. Mort smiled at his gesture, and tried to push his fur back down. He looked down, and laughed nervously, and smiled a cute smile, which never seemed to work on Skipper. He didn't think up an alibi or an excuse to come over. He tried to think up something quickly, so he tried to lie the best he could.

"Well I'm not trying to come in to see what you're doing." Skipper raised his eyebrow, noticing the strong lack of subtlety. Mort thought he would have to be stronger in his denials. "And I'm definitely not going to tell Marlene, and the others, okay?" Skipper rolled his eyes, and looked at the little mouse eared lemur.

"Mort?" A strong British accent came from the left of the habitat. it was Private smiling in his usual sweet way. Mort smiled in a feeling of relief. He liked being with Private, since he was such an understanding penguin. The others felt sort of intimidating, anyways. He ran up to private, hugging him. Private smiled at him. "Well hello Mort. What brings you the habitat today?" Skipper was looking at him with the same question obviously on his mind as well.

"Well, I was just . . . umm." Skipper stopped Mort, so he could speak.

"Regardless of your reason to come over, you have now seen our plans, and thus have to work on the project with us." Private looked at Mort with a look of confusion.

"But I haven't seen anythi-" Suddenly Rico smushed a big blue piece of paper up to Mort's face.

"Congratulations, welcome to the work force." Skipper mumbled. Kowalski rolled the skateboard out from under the big invention. He was wearing a baby blue helmet, and had some soot, and dust around his face. Mort smiled at him. Kowalski's voice was tough, and macho, but still very welcoming. He took off his helmet, and put it on Mort's head. Mort smiled, and hugged the tall penguin. Kowalski looked around nervously. He apparently didn't know much about children. He attempted a smile, and patted the lemurs helmet.

Mort had yet to know what he was working on with the penguins. He had totally forgot that Marlene, and the others wanted to know about the commotion. He had helped eagerly, and without any questions. He had turned levers, and screws when needed. When ever Rico hacked something into his hand, he hesitated a little, but took the tool nonetheless. Kowalski asked Mort if he could hand him some of the the jet black oil. Mort picked up the can, and walked over, but accidentally bumped into Private, and the oil spilled out everywhere. Unfortunately Kowalski was under the machine when he spilled it. There was a loud scream, and Kowalski came out. His face covered in black thick tar like goo. It was so dark the only thing Mort could see, was Kowalski eyes, which looked a little irritated. After he cleaned his face off, they were getting close to being done. A few sparks flew, and a glow of the blowtorch, and Kowalski said aloud, "We're Done!"

Everybody stepped back a bit, to see what they had made. The steel was sleek with polish. They each smiled with satisfaction. Kowalski leaned on the side, smiling.

"What is it?" Mort had to know.

"It's an age-manipulator, Mort. It can turn you younger, or older depending on your preferred level setting. Here I'll give you an example." Kowalski held out a mushy yellow and black striped caterpillar, which he put on the ground. He gave everybody a welding mask, and pointed a scanning like tool at it. With a few turns of the knobs, it blasted the ray slowly at the caterplillar. There were blue and purple rings coming from the ray. After a small white flash, and a little puff of smoke, everybody slowly pulled their welding mask up. The caterpillar was nowhere to be seen. When they looked up, a beautiful monarch butterfly was flapping slowly. It landed on Mort's nose. He giggled as it slowly flapped it wings up and down. "Unfortunately it can keep the change temporarily for a small amount of time." The butterfly quickly puffed back up to a plump caterpillar.

"Eww." Mort said as it slimed its way off of his face, and on to the floor.

"So, exactly how long do things stay in their age result, before turning back to their original self." Skipper held his wing up to his chin. Kowalski looked through his notebook at his notes.

"Well, it depends on the type of species. As for something as basic as a caterpillar, I'd estimate a few minutes, as you had just seen. It can only keep the change in accordance to the DNA's reaction to the change. For something like us on the other hand, I think we could hold onto our changes for maybe a few days. It seems the more complexity of the animal, the longer the change will last. Humans could probably go for a full two weeks." Mort thought of what it would be like, to be grown up.

"Could I try it out?" Mort asked.

"Uhh, not yet Mort. I need to make sure that the ray doesn't leave any side effects." Mort crossed his paws, and walked over to the machine. THe ray's pointer looked kind of like a wand, and that's when his judgement flew out the window. He picked it up, and smiled at it. He held the trigger underneath, making blue and purple rays radiate off of the center's tip. He panicked as the wand like ray shooter had a kick to it, and made arms go everywhere. It knocked his sense of aim out of his hand, as it swung everywhere.

"No Mort! Don't!" Kowalski yelled as all four of them got shot one by one. He hadn't meant to, but the recoil of the ray was too much for the little lemur. Each one held their flippers infront of their faces. Mort was shocked at his sudden mistake. He was so awe-struck, he didn't bother notice that he still had his finger on the trigger. As soon as he let go, there was a big white flash come from the ray, as it had done before. He clamped his eyes shut, his paws over his eyes, as the blinding light shot the fishbowl off the top. Marlene, Julian, and Maurice saw the flash, and were shocked, but were still scared to go see what had happened.

Mort had lowered his hands, to wave away the big bellows of smoke that were saturating the air. He caughed a little at the smoke, and tried to see if the penguins were mad at him. He couldn't see them, but knew that they were there.

"Umm hello? Private . . . Mr. Rico . . . anybody?" He tried to walk away from the smoke that was thickest near him. When he crossed the room, the smoke had settled. Mort had gasped at what he saw. They were four big blue eyes, but not the ones that were from the four penguins of the room. They were from penguins, but these penguins were different. They had tiny little feet, and were actually smaller than him. They were very fine feathered, and very adorable. He looked at them with a bit of confusion. Where did the four other penguins go? He took a closer look at them, and figured it out in no time. He had turned them all into babies. "Oooh, dear," he whispered, as they one by one started crying. He didn't know what to do, so the first name that came to mind blurted out from him as he ran out of the HQ. "JULIAN!"


	2. The babies

Cuter and more cuddly

by

Mastermindhunter

Mort ran straight to the lemurs habitat, at break neck speed. How could he be so foolish as to turn them all into babies? He should have known better. Would king Julian get angry? Of course he would! Would Marlene get angry? Maybe. She was sort of nice, but when she got angry, she got ANGRY! They were all there ready to hear the things he'd done. The awful things that he had done. He went over the fence, and walked up to the three waiting animals, almost too terrified to talk. They looked at him with a normal look of curiosity.

"So Mort, what was taking you so long?" Julian glared. Mort gulped heavily. He had no way to explain to them. Would they even believe it? Four tough as nails penguins, turned into babies by a machine? It sounded crazy to him, and he was the one who did it.

"Umm, guys? I'd like to show you something." He grabbed one of Marlenes fingers. They were confused, but agreed to go. Julian and Maurice followed him to the island The noise was no longer coming from the habitat. It was actually more silent than usual Mort was a little nervous, but knew that he couldn't take care of the penguins himself. Julian was thinking that penguins had made a gift for him, Maurice thought that the penguins might need their help, and Marlene just thought they had made a new invention, and they told Mort to go see what it was. He tried to ease the shock by asking them a question.

"Okay, how much do you guys like babies?" Mort asked smiling nervously.

Maurice shrugged. "I don't know they're okay . . . when they're good chidren." Maurice was getting suspicious. "Why are you asking us this question?"

"I like babies. Let me guess. There are new transferred baby penguins in the zoo, and the boys need help in taking care of them. Trust me, as long as the boys are with us, we can take care of anything that the babies dish out." Mort was really nervous now. How could he have eliminated the only chance for help he could have had? They're babies! They can't take care of the babies, if the babies are them Mort grabbed their hands, and drug them into the underground area. There infront of her were the four penguins, making baby sounds, laying on their tummies. One was smiling sweety, while another one was drooling a little. Another one was asleep on the floor, curled up warmly. Another was biting the doll that belonged to Rico. Malrene was looking around for the boys, to ask about the penguins, but they were nowhere to be seen. It was a little confusing, not seeing them anywhere. As soon as she picked up the clue, Marlene was just speechless, her mouth was hanging open slightly. Maurice was slowly turning pale. His eye were as wide as dinner plates. Julian didn't understand how big of a problem this was at first. He was too busy looking at the cute penguins infront of him.

"What . . . did . . . you . . . do . . . Mort?" Marlene was terrified, but still was able to keep her head on.

"It was an accident?" He smiled nervously, and giggled a little. Marlene was not laughing. She was just staring at them. She looked over to where the one was sleeping. Next to him was an invention that said "AGE MANIPULATOR." That's when she gasped, and looked at them. So, that's where the babies came from. They were the boys! Maurice had his eyes glued to the smiling penguin. How could this have happened? They knew that they should have sent someone else. Julian wasn't listening to them. He was too distracted by the babies.

"Aww look how cute the little tiny penguins are! They are like teacup penguins." He picked the drooling one up, and smiled at it. "Oh you are so cute! You are so much cuter than that annoying Skipper. I will keeep you for my own. That way you will be the heir to my throne. My little drooling prince." The penguin smiled, and made a _bleh, bleh, meh_ sound. He smiled, and put it down, once he drooled on his arm.

"Uhh Julian? I think that these _are_ the penguins." Maurice's voice was shaky, and worried. Julian looked at the little penguins. How could they be the penguins? They were far too cute. He looked at them with a big smile, and shook his head no.

"Oh Maurice, Maurice, Maurice. You tease me with your jokes, and pranks. No the penguins are bossy, annoying, and way too ugly. These penguins are just so adorable, I could keep one for my own. If I could only find the other four, I could take one, maybe preferrably this one." The penguin tilted it's head slightly, and made a _huh?_ like sound.

"Julian. I think we should ask Mort. He was here the whole time." Julian pointed at Mort. Mort was looking at all three of them, as they were waiting for an explaination.

"Well . . . umm . . . The penguins were being really loud. So Marlene came over to our place to talk about it, then Maurice said, "I honestly don't know what could possibly be going on over there, but I'm sure that whatever they're doing over there really doesn't concern us." After that, we all looked over at their place, then Julian said-" Maurice interupted the little lemur.

"Could you possibly skip to where you went into the HQ., and spoke to them?" Maurice asked with a raised eyebrow. Mort had explained all about how he helped them with the the age manipulator. He didn't leave a single detail out. He told them about the oil, and the caterpillar, and how he accidentally turned them all into babies. the three listened to the story carefully. When he was finished, Marlene understood the whole thing. Maurice was a little blown away with the predicament. Julian hadn't beleived a single word of the story. He just thought that it was a trick for them to keep all the babies for themselves, and for him to not get a single baby penguin.

"Okay I'll accept that the boys are turned into babies, but what are we going to do? I don't know how to change them back! I mean the only one that _can_ change them back is a baby, and I don't even know which one of them he is! WHAT ARE WE GUNNA DO?" Marlene was shouting by this time, at the top of her lungs. She looked at them, slowly panicking. Maurice grabbed her paws, and looked at her in the eyes. She was starting to have tears in her eyes.

"MARLENE! . . . relax. Come on, now. Take a deep breath with me, okay? breath in . . . " She and Maurice inhaled. Maurice's was slow and relaxed. Marlene's was jaggedand shaky. "Now breath out." They both let out a husky breath. The smiling one grabbed his feet, and giggled loudly. She looked at the baby, calming down. "Now let's think clearly. We can't just let them sit here, without a gaurdian. Somebody needs to take care of them, and trust me we are not going to let king Julian take care of them, alone. I suggest we each take a baby, and we all take shifts for each. We'll switch them out every once in a while, and we'll try to figure the problem out. Clearly, they can't stay babies forever." Marlene nodded her head, and bit her lower lip.

"Umm actually the tall one said the affect will wear off." Mort said picking up the smiling penguin. "They said in a few days, the affect wears off. It depends on which type of animal it is." Marlene felt a little better. Maurice smiled, and laid a paw on her shoulder. She calmed down, and even smiled a little.

"Well I guess we should figure out who one each one of them is." Maurice scratched the back of his head, trying to figure out how to tell each one apart. "Let's start with this one." He picked up the one that was drooling slightly. Mort handed him a red handkerchief, and Maurice wiped ithe saliva off his face, and looked at the infant penguin for a whie. The flatness of his head, told him that he was Skipper. It was funny how Julian liked him, but he said he looked better than Skipper. He put the handkerchief around his neck in order to remember him.

Next Marlene picked up the one that was smiling. He was making raspberry noises with his tongue. It didn't take very much effort to know it was Private. He was tiny, and had a big baby belly. He opened his mouth wide, and put it on Marlene. Apparantly it was how babies kissed. She grabbed a blue handkerchief, and tied it around his neck. Next, they picked up the one that was biting the dolly's head.

"Hmm . . . " Marlene pondered with the baby in her arms. "I wonder which one this little guy is." It was a very cute one. He was definitly much more cuter than the others for sure. Suddenly that baby spat up a big belch of baby barf. They all winced a little. It suddenly got a little more gross, when Marlene spat to the side, twice. She glared at the baby penguin that spat up all over her. He giggled at the annoyed otter. A little bit of green on the side of his beak. "Yeah, this one is Rico. That's for sure." She grabbed a purple handerchief, and tied it around his neck, after whipping off the baby barf off his face.

"He, he, Well I guess that leaves this little guy as Kowalski." Maurice picked up the sleeping penguin up. The baby Kowalski, yawned a big wide yawn, and nustled Maurices chest fur. Maurice smiled a little bit. Maybe this whole baby thing wouldn't be so bad. He grabbed a green handkerchief, and tied it around the sleeping penguin's neck. They each grabbed a penguin, and ran off towards the lemurs habitat. The next few days were going to be kind of hard and strenuous, but it would be worth it, as long as the boys were okay.


	3. Taking care of them

Cuter and more cuddly ch. 3

by

Mastermindhunter

They sat the baby penguins all in the lemurs habitat, carefully on some folded leaves, from the habitat's plants. Marlene thought for a little while, on what to do with what Mort had resulted in starting. The three stared at her, their faces and beaks black, granted the white orbs that covered the area around their eyes. Their bodies were soft, and grey. She looked at each one, and quickly had an idea. She ran off to the penguins habitat. They had to be there somewhere. She found them. There were four white cloths on the floor. She grabbed them, and ran towards the lemurs place. She held them up, to show the three lemurs. They were confused, and didn't know what she was planning.

"Well what do you think? Here you feel them, and tell me if they're okay." Julian looked at them, and rubbed his index finger, and thumb on the fabric. It was incredibly soft, and actually quite warm to the touch. He thought they felt good, but didn't know what she needed them for.

"Uhh they're soft, but what is it you are to be doing with them." She rolled her eyes, and picked up Kowalski first. She headed down to the bouncy castle, and gently laid Kowalski down, on his back. Julian was wondering what Marlene was doing to his baby teacup penguins. He was sure they were okay. She was moving Kowalski around a litle bit, and then she hollered that she was done with Kowalski, and asked if Julian could hand him Skipper. Julian held Skipper tightly, and felt a little hesitant. He didn't want to give up his favorite penguin without knowing what she was going to do to him first. He looked at his baby penguin, and made a pouty face. "Umm whatever it is you are doing, do you mind if I do it instead?"

"Actually King Julian, whatever it is she's doing, I trust that Marlene is more experienced." Maurice laid his hand on Julian's shoulder. He looked at his cute little penguin, and let Marlene take him. She was taking a little while. Marlene turned around, and held safety pins in her mouth. Julian grabbed Skipper back defensively. Skipper let out a high squealed laugh.

"No possible way. I will not let you hurt my little baby penguin." He looked over to Kowalski. Kowalski had a diaper on. It took him a little while to figure out that she was putting diapers on them all. "Oh . . . Umm . . . Well if that was what you were doing to them, then okay." He handed Skipper over. When she was done with changing Skipper, she handed him back to Julian. He took Skipper back, and hugged him, closely.

Mort thought that the penguins were adorable with diapers. He wanted to try. "Marlene, can I put a diaper on one of the penguins?" Marlene looked at him as if he were kidding. He still kept a confident smile.

"No way baby master. You screwed them up, and I don't expect you to be in charge of more than one at a time. I'm not angry. I'm just saying that it's just going to take a little while for me to regain my trust in you." She held Rico over her shoulder, and turned away. Mort frowned, and held the still un-diapered Private in his hands. He hugged him, and whispered quietly in his ear "I'm sorry."

They were now all diapered, and looked cute as buttons. "Alright, what do you feed a baby penguin?" Maurice looked at the four laying on thir backs. Private was chewing on Rico's flipper gently.

"Uhh mangos, bananas, and other fruits?" Julian shrugged.

"Kisses and huggies?" Mort held his hands up to his cheeks.

"Umm actually, I heard that in Antartica mother penguins regurgitate their chewed up fish, and put it in the baby's beaks." Marlene cringed at her words. They all looked at each other to see who would feed the penguins. The faces glances all looked at Maurice. Maurice was not exactly the best when it came to meat eating. He had also never eaten a fish before, let alone throw it up. "Okay, I don't think we have to exactly hack a fish into their mouths, but I'm sure we're going to have to give them fish one way or another." They figured that could work.

Maurice had walked on over to their island, and grabbed some silvery blue fish from the bowl, and Marlene tried cutting it up with a knife, to make it as small as possible. When it was about pea sized shreds, Maurice put them on a spoon, and fed the fish to each penguin. "Please tell me this is okay for you all to eat, little guys." Rico gaped his mouth wide open, and made an tiny "ah" sound. He gently closed the penguins beak, and watch him swallow. Rico had sat there for a few seconds, looking to the side. Then he opened his mouth for another bite. Maurice had smiled, and Marlene had given him a thumbs up for his work. Julian was getting a little jelous, and offered to feed Private. Marlene thought about it, and nodded for him to go ahead. He looked at the shredded jar of fish. The awful odor made his stomach churn.

'Ugh! If the adult four penguins were here, they would know what to do. Where the heck are they anyway?' Was going through his head, as he fed a spoonful to Private. Private held it in his mouth, and Julian gently closed his beak. He had swallowed it, just like Rico did. He then opened his mouth, for more food. Julian had succeeded in feeding the penguins fish. He smiled with excitement over to Marlene. She couldn't help, but smile at his love of the babies. He offered to feed them all. They agreed.

An hour had passed, and they were all fed, and drowsey looking. Mort asked if he could do something for the penguins. Marlene was a litte nervous, but agreed to let him do something. "Would you like to burp them?" Mort thought that seemed a little gross, but if Marlene was willing to put their diapers on them, then he could definitly burp them. He casted a small cloth over his shoulder, and grabbed Rico. Rico had burped up a bit of fish. Mort cleaned his face with the cloth , and reached for Skipper next. After the second one got burped, he didn't want to do it anymore. He gave the cloth to Marlene, and Marlene finished up with Kowalski, and Private.

Marlene had put Maurice in charge, while she took off to grab a pillow, and blanket from her habitat. As she grabbed everthing to take to the lemurs place for the night, she felt like the tables were turned to the max. Who knew the penguins would need her help? This was different, and scary. Would the boys remember everything? Hopefully Skipper wouldn't. Him and Julian barely got along at all. The whole Julian liking his baby form would be pretty akward. She grabbed all the blankets she could find. The penguins would need somwhere soft to sleep. They would also need to be kept warm. Penguins usually slept between the feet of father penguins at this time of their life. She didn't know how to do that, but she could definitly keep them warm.

She plopped each sheet, and blanket infront of her, when she reached the lemur's habitat. Mort and Julian set the blankets out to be fluffy, and plush for the penguins to sleep on. When they got them nice and fluffy they each set them down to sleep. Marlene let out a sigh, when each one had closed their eyes. Marlene was exhausted from taking care of each one. She laid flat on her back, looking up at the moon, over head. She wanted to curl up next to the lemurs, but her arms couldn't move. They felt like jello from holding the penguins all day.

"Pretty tough day, huh?" Maurice looked at her sprawled on grass, about to fall asleep. He was laughing at her worn out appearance.

"Yes. Whoever took care of these guys at birth, was no whimp." She snorted. Maurice grabbed her pillow, and laid it under her head. He then grabbed the blanket, and casted it over Marlene.

"Yeah, but you know, I've never taken care of babies before. Only the female lemurs were allowed to take care of babies, back in Madagascar. I mean, just look at them." She glanced over to her right. The babies were quietly on their backs, and sound asleep. "Now if that doesn't say, job well done, I don't know what does. We might not be parents of the year, but if you ask me, we did pretty good for three lemurs, and an otter." She smiled at the eye eye. He was right. They did good. Not as good as a penguin, but close. She felt herself being picked up. Maurice was still a few inches away. Who picked her up? A crownless Julian was holding her against his chest. She was too tired to care.

"Where's your crown, Julian?" He looked up at his crownless head.

"I gave it to the flat headed one. He is so adorable. The one that vomited on you might have been cute, but I like the flat headed one for some reason." that made Marlene laugh a little. She would have laughed a little harder, but she was way too worn out. He laid her on the bouncy castle with a blanket underneath her. She yawned, and fell asleep right away, with three lemur bodies agaist her.

"Hey Julian. How about we give Marlene a break tomorrow. She's done alot today, and think that we should do more of our share of work." Julian looked at her, as she laid there, knocked out. She was very tired, and worn out. It seemed pretty fair. It would give him a little more time to spend with the babies. He did like the penguins very much. If anthing, it sounded like a plan.

"Okay. If she seems swamped then I'll take a penguin off her hands when necessary." They shook on it, and went off to bed, very tired from the penguins care. It was a tough job to take care of not one, but four penguins. Usually penguins had one baby, and that was hard enough, but four? They had hoped that the effects would wear off soon, but had also wished that it could last a little while longer. Their hearts were pulled two ways.


	4. Tension rising

Cuter and more cuddley ch. 4

by

Mastermindhunter

Marlene and the lemurs were all fast asleep, but then in the middle of the night, they heard a faint whining sound. It was none other than one of the babies. Marlene was worn out from the day, and definitley didn't want to get up. She was far too exhausted, and could hardly move. The other zoo animals were complaining about the babies crying, and about how some of them weren't nocturnal. She whined a little bit, from the increasing noise. She poked Julian in the side, and Julian pushed her hand away. She gave up on him, and tried to get Maurice up.

"Maurice." She poked Maurice in the side. He laughed in his sleep a little. "Maurice come on wake up." He opened his eyes carefully looking around. He smiled at Marlene. "One of the boys is crying. Could you check on him, and see what he wants?" He nodded, and got up.

The babies were all sitting quietly, granted the one that was crying. He slumped over to the babies, and picked him up. The one that was crying, had a blue handkerchief, which meant it was Private. His face was slightly pink under the feathers. Maurice layed him over his houlder, and patted him quietly. "Shh It's okay Private. I'm here. Everythings going to be okay. Please go to sleep, now." He gently ran his paw along the soft down feathers of the little penguin. He was slowly calming down, but not fully. Maurice sat on Julians throne, trying to calm Private down. Why was Private so upset? He didn't seem to be hurt. He had been fed before sleeping. He didn't feel warm, so it couldn't have been a fever. There must have been something He eventually got tired of crying, and nestled into the fur on Maurices chest. Maurice smiled, and gently patted the little baby bird. He let out a yawn, and fell asleep in Maurices arms. Maurice had let out a yawn too. He didn't realize he was slowly falling asleep on Julians throne.

When he woke up, Private was asleep in his arms, smiling at his dreams. Marlene was laughing, staring at Maurice taking Private out of his grasp. He turned red, realizing he had fallen asleep. "I'll take care of him." Suddenly Private started crying as shouting. It wasn't just crying. It seemed more like he was in pain. Was he? Marlene put him back in Maurices arms, and he was still crying. What was going on? There was only one thing she could assume. She took Private to the bouncing thing. She found out that Private had a dirty diaper. Maurice didn't bother to check the diaper?" She took it, and cleaned the diaper. The penguins habitat had other cloths that could be used as diapers. When she returned, a new diaper was put on Private. When Private was clean, he calmed down, and fell asleep. She laid him in the sleeping area with the rest of the penguins. She slumped over the habitats wall.

"What was wrong with him?" Maurice asked. Marlene looked over at him, as she quickly pulled up an angry face.

"Oh nothing, Maurice. He just had to be changed, and he had a dirty diaper ALL NIGHT!" Maurice put his hands on top of his head, and had a look of pure terror. Malrene heard Kowalski crying and picked him up to check his diaper. It was messy as well. Marlene wrinkled her nose, and laid him on his back. "You know, I've always thought that I could take great care of children, but I've also considered having a boyfriend for help. I unfortunately don't. I only have you guys. The best you all could do is help me out."

"Hey! Hold up a sec! How was I supposed to know they needed changing? They're babies! They can't say hungry, or changing! I have to guess on my own! Sometimes they just plain cry for the sake of crying!" He hollard in her face. Marlene had just turned back to Kowalski and threw the dirty diaper to the side. She was quietly crying, but didn't let Maurice see her. Maurice felt really bad now. He looked over towards Skipper, to see Julian was changing him. Julian's nose crinkled up, but he changed the little penguin, and looked at his job well done.

Marlene was almost done with Kowalski, when Rico was laid down right beside him. She had thought that Maurice had laid him down next to him, just to let her change him as well. She sighed really loud, and fastened Kowalski's diaper. Surprisingly she saw Maurice kneeling next to her, and smile in her direction. She sighed, and lifted the side of her mouth. "Listen. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that this is terrifying. I've never done this before."

'It's alright." She laid a furry paw on his shoulder. He looked up from Rico, and smiled, half tired. They finished Rico up, and fed then their fish choppings. At about noon, they laid them down for a nap. Marlene ate her oysters that she recieved from Alice, and Julian, Mort, and Maurice ate their fruit with satisfation. Mort had gone to their habitat in order grab some fish for their supper. Marlene decided to give them all a bath. Maurice volunteered to wash them all. Despite his sweet sincerity, Marlene insisted that everyone did an even share in the bathings of the penguins, even Mort.

"Oh here. will help in the grooming of the penguins!" Julian ran up to the babies, and grabbed a wash cloth from Maurice.

"Um okay. Here take Skipper." He grabbed Skipper, and put him in Julians arms. He took the little penguin, and laid him down on a towel, to give him a gentle bath. He took a small washcloth, and gently massaged the down feathers. They lost their fluffy appearance, when the water was gently applied to their sensetive bodies. Everyone took a penguin, and washed them. Maurice took Rico, Marlene took Kowalski, Julian, of course took Skipper, and Mort took Private. The soaking penguins were a little less puffy, and now looked slender. The slick glitter of their wet feathers blinked in the sunlight. It was the same shine that appeared on them when they were adults. Mort was drying Private off when he saw something come off of Private. Itwas the puffy grey down feather. He must have harmed him. It was only one, and nothing else.

Meanwhile Alice was patrolling the paths of the zoo, sending the foods into the corresponding habitats. For some reason, the penguins weren't in their habitats, or they were apparently in the water. Her walkie talkie was going off on her belt. She held it up to her ear, and asked what it was that the other zoo keeper needed. She jabbed the talk button, and listened for a while. Her face suddenly lit up, with a bit of fright, and she looked around with a sense of surprise. "Are you sure? Is it a stray?"

"Yeah, Alice. Make sure that it doesn't get too close to the habitats. I don't want any of the animals hurt. It's a big german shepard. I saw it jump the fence, earlier."

"Okay. I'll watch the habitats of the smaller animals."

Marlene walked over when Mort showed her the feather. She walked up to Private, and looked at where the feather was origonally. A barely noticable patch of black was underneath. Mort's lower lip was trembling. He was afraid he had scrubbed the penguin too hard. Marlene was laughing at the naive little lemur. "There's nothing to worry about, Mort. If they're loosing their down feathers, then it means that the effects of the ray are wearing off. Pretty soon they'll be back to normal." Mort liked this. It meant that they would soon be done taking care of the penguins. As soon as their baths were done, Julian fed them, and Marlene burped them all. By the time that was done, the sun had gone down. Marlene laid against the wall of the habitat. She held all the babies on her lap. She was incredibly tired. Julian looked at her a bit sadly, and went over to the smoothie machine. She looked at the four chicks in her lap.

"Oh jeez. I don't know if I can do this. It's a good thing you guys are getting close to growing up. It would help to see you guys grown up." Julian, Mort and Maurice walked up to Marlene. She was looking exhausted. Julian and Maurice had cups of fruit juice. Mort held two, and handed one to Marlene, before sitting next her. Julian sat next to the little mouse eared lemur. Maurice sat on her other side. She held the straw up to her mouth totally exhausted. She sipped with as much strength as she could. In the middle of her sip, she looked at all of the boys. Julian rubbed the side of her shoulder. Mort leaned up against her. Maurice stared at her sad in the face. The little babies looked at her confused why she was so exhausted, and sad. Private laid his cheek against her, and whimpered. Kowalski pushed his head against her fur. Rico wrapped his little tiny wings around her waist as far they would go. Skipper laid the back of his head on her stomach. She looked at the older boys, and spat out the straw sending it to circle half way around the cup. She formed her mouth back with a smile. "Thanks guys."

They all had warm hearted smiles. Marlene scooped all the penguins up and gave them a warm down feathered hug. All the babies smiled widely as they knew Marlene was in a better mood. She sighed sipping her fruit with a smile. In no time, she was sound asleep. Julian was leaning against Marlene sleeping soundly as well. He nuzzled his nose close in her fur. Maurice was laying on his tummy, next to marlene, sleeping as well. The babies were all laying along Marlene's feet. They made little mewling sounds as they slept. Mort was the only one not sleeping. When he stood up, he looked at the penguins scattered everywhere. The others were soundly asleep. Then he decided he could carry them to bed.

He picked Kowalski up, first. Kowalski was laid into the pile of blankets gently. Next he picked up cutie pie Rico. As he carried Rico, Rico stirred a little. Next Skipper was laid into the blankets as well. When he picked Private up, he smiled at Private. When he laid him down Private yawned the way little birdies do. Private then hugged Skipper closely. He felt the soft down feathers closely. Mort smiled at it, crossing his hands, and laying his chin down on the arms. He felt his eyes getting heavy. He didn't want to go to sleep, with such a cute little group of chicks infront of him, but he had to eventually. he slipped into a deep sleep, with the penguins closely in sight.


End file.
